Sunday, September 19, 2010

Big Think Interview With Pedro Noguera/Autism/ Parent n Teacher resources

Today's blog contains resources for parents, teachers, and scholars. In the past month, I have been working with parents, teachers, community workers, and a couple of members of the Detroit Public Schools Board to address concerns with the district plans and parents with children that are in Special Education classes and transition programs. Therefore, I decided to make another list of resources that address learning, literacy, special education, and culture. The first entry is a video of Dr. Pedro Noguera. He is a sociologist that tries to understand the social contexts that influences what goes on in schools. In the video, he offers his analysis of what is going on in Detroit, MI and how it has affected our schools and students' ability to learn. Just click on the links! -- Aurora


Here is a link concerning Autism.

Managing disabilities in college and vocational school: http://learningdisabilities.about.com/

About learning disabilities: http://learningdisabilities.about.com/od/behaviorproble/Information_and_Strategies_for_Behavior_Problems.htm 


Literacy Center: The  Early Childhood Education Network  http://www.literacycenter.net/
Read Today ! Net   Reading worksheets in English, Spanish, German, and French
National Capital Language Resource Center  (NCLRC)  Teaching materials by language: http://nclrc.org/teaching_materials/materials_by_language/universal.html
The National Capital Language September 2010 Newsletter http://www.nclrc.org/newsletter.html
International Children’s Digital Library  http://en.childrenslibrary.org/
Metropolitan Center for Urban Education https://steinhardt.nyu.edu/metrocenter/newsletters/sbetac
Dr. Pedro Noguera  guest editor to The Nation article on education 

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Poetry: Metro Times - Arts: Remembering Ron Allen with the poem

An article about my friend, poet, and playwright Ron Allen. The poem that I wrote for him and read at the African World Festival at his tribute is in the article- click the link

Metro Times - Arts: Remembering Ron Allen


On September 26, 2010   Sunday, from 1 p.m.- 4  p.m. at the Cass Cafe on Cass Avenue at Forest in Detroit, another poetry, music, and theatrical tribute will be had. Light snacks will be served, you may bring a potluck dish, and the bar will be open.


Here is the poem that was published. Some of the lines were edited out:
=============
From Inside the 6
For poet Ron Allen, 1947-2010
by Aurora Harris

I - August 8, 2010 8:24 a.m.
Outside looked summer hazy gray
Reading poem from 1999 poetry workshop
I said she is the snowstorm then
Eight twenty three three tones
I hear three electronic Buddhist tones
Three quick high pitched Buddhist tones
Eeeee eeeee eeeeee
A technological bell warning through ether
Through window into my left ear
Communication of the OneOne tone
I know what time it is
We know what time it is
We were talking about violence peace
The Up From City’s Devastation Here
Coq a vin in moderation man
With his toe-less dancing feet
Craving Temple Bar two-step heat
That you talking tones to me?
Everything you said you don’t want
Virgo to Virgo I’m handlin’ it
Just found list of Buddhist Temples
Just called Peter phone is ringing
Just called Peter it’s only 6
Even the text message is Buddhist
call buddhist temple for ron please
Buddhism - Wilshire Center & Los Angeles Area
I found list of numbers Ron
I’m throat singer saying it Ron

So you can be Laughing Buddah
Remember I told you about books
Books of dead titles not so?
Egyptians, Tibetans, titles have different meanings
Western words changes meanings and understanding
I will break the six now
It was all about ether
It is all about nonviolence
It was all about peace
It is all about peace

II - August 21-22, 2010 9:43 a.m.
Speak to me
Speak through rising chronic tears
Speak through velvet nights awakening sound
Gray, rainy morning haze
Polish my ears with shattering tropes
Speak into a semblance of light
Broken patterns of woven night sky
Speak to me
Speak through uninterrupted street words
Speak inherited heartbeats
Speak into the secret sauce of jazzy dreams
Spit shine planets with stone washed fingers leaking poems
Speak a stack of verbs walking surreal sky
Speak dialogues of twisted friction in frameworks of truth
Speak to me straight like a wall of ocean’s waves
Speak through genies in cactus needles
Rub a peyote trip out of penny in your pocket
Speak into rhythmic grinding of ego into bone dust
Speak a deluded soul into blue streaks of meditation
Taste molecules of your existences
Speak to me, brother
Float past graffiti rainbows talking backwards
Float past the Bhardo of Dharmata into pure Buddhahood
Float on the luminous path of the Wisdom of Discernment
Speak to me, Speak to me
Black birds gather on telephone wires for 11:00 a.m. morning music
Black birds’ bodies dotting the sky/ are simple notes / of this morning’s beauty
You appearing as 4/4 time/ treble clef 8th notes / F B D E with/ rests in between
You speaking vibrational bird song on electric currents of chatter
You speaking through memories of erratic streams
You who milked the nipple of being
You who blows through a thighbone trumpet
You who appears as a swarm of fireflies
Speak to me, brother Speak to me

Note: The Egyptian Book of the Dead is known as the "Spells of Coming (or Going) Forth By Day"
The Tibetan Book of the Dead is known as the "Bardo Thodol" ... a guide for the dead and dying.
Aurora Harris is a Detroit poet and educator who blogs at auroraharris.blogspot.com.

Tuesday, August 31, 2010

From the files in my head: My food research for today, August 31.. for teachers and folks i care about

This started on facebook, when someone posted an article on Chinese babies growing breasts from the milk they drank. This is the response that I posted in my "notes" page:

From the files in my head: My food research for today, August 31.. for teachers and folks i care about

by Aurora Harris on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 at 11:17pm

my reseach info for today includes:

POV: Point of View PBS Docs

1. Notes on Milk... a documentary about the US milk industry
http://www.pbs.org/pov/notesonmilk/photo_gallery_watch.php

2. Swill Milk: stuff whiskey distilleries fed cows during whiskey-milk wars
http://brooklynology.brooklynpubliclibrary.org/post/2010/01/20/Brooklyn-Distilleries.aspx

3. Chernobyl nuclear explosion ( cuz the radiated milk was sent to the Philippines)
http://www.pbs.org/pov/englishsurgeon/background.php

and ..."The 1986 explosion at the Chernobyl nuclear power plant was one of the worst nuclear accidents in history, and the efforts of the Soviet government to conceal the accident and its fallout led to the contamination of about 8 percent of Ukraine's land mass, contributing to significantly higher cancer rates, particularly thyroid, in the region. According to the World Health Organization, there is no evidence that the Chernobyl incident contributed to a higher incidence of brain tumors. . The tumors Marsh sees in Kyiv are the same as those he sees in London, except they are often larger due to a lack of early diagnosis. The disaster did add to Ukraine's environmental woes, as did the country's role as an industrial center in the Soviet era, when lax regulation allowed extensive pollution to build up."

4. From years ago,  when I was following WTO presentations and scientifically grown seeds that were pushed on Asian rice farmers (Transnational Institute, 1999)
http://www.tni.org/article/asia-asian-farmers-and-wto    also:

http://www.pbs.org/pov/borders/2004/earth/earth_int_game.html

"Seed saving is an age-old tradition amongst farmers. Seeds are collected every harvest and saved for planting the following year. Some farmers also crossbreed different varieties to produce hybrid crops that flourish in the conditions that exist on that particular farm.

The "Seed Stewards" game illustrates the experience of 73-year-old Saskatchewan farmer, Percy Schmeiser, who contends that genetically-modified seeds contaminated his fields. In 1998, Monsanto investigators found evidence that Schmeiser was illegally growing patented seeds in his fields. Schmeiser, a conventional canola farmer and seed saver, claimed that the patented "Round-Up Ready" seeds blew into his fields from the nearby road and a neighboring farm. He refused to pay the licensing fee. The company sued Schmeiser shortly thereafter to protect its patent."

4. Genetically altered seeds in Africa:
http://www.africanagricultureblog.com/2010/01/seed-giant-dominates-genetically.html

peace
Aurora

Tuesday, July 13, 2010

Charter schools: Finding out the facts: At a glance - Center for Public Education

July 13, 2010 8:30 a.m.

From The Center For Public Education web site


Charter schools: Finding out the facts: At a glance - Center for Public Education


From the article above:

...Charter schools across the nation

While charter school students enrolled just 3 percent of all public school students in 2008, the number of students (and schools) has risen dramatically in the past decade. In 1999, there were 1,542 charter schools with 349,642 students. By 2008, there were 4,618 charter schools with 1,407,817 students (National Alliance for Public Charter Schools 2009b).

As the enrollment numbers have grown, some in the education community have become concerned. The RAND Corporation’s study (Zimmer et al 2009) attempted to evaluate whether charter schools are “skimming” the best students from local traditional public schools or re-segregating urban schools. RAND analyzed the academic achievement and demographic characteristics of students transferring into charter schools and found:

Charter schools generally are not drawing the best students away from local traditional public schools. For example, previous test scores for students transferring into charter schools were near or below the averages for every location in the study. Only among white students did researchers find slightly higher test scores among those moving to charter schools.
The racial composition of charter schools was similar to that of the traditional public schools the students previously attended.
A recent report by the Civil Rights Project (CRP) compared the percent of black students in racially isolated charter schools (charters schools enrolling 90 to 100 percent of black students) to the percent of black students attending racially isolated schools nationwide, with the conclusion that black charter school students were twice as likely to attend racially isolated schools. However, the majority of charter schools are in large urban districts, which are more racially isolated than other districts. So it cannot be determined from the CRP report whether charter schools lead to more racially isolated schools; the RAND study remains the best research available.

Yet charter schools remain primarily an urban strategy. The National Charter School Research Project reports that 89 percent of U.S. school districts “have no charter schools within their boundaries, perhaps in large measure because so many school districts are so very small." (Lake, 2010)

Conclusion

It is clear that charters are poised for another growth spurt. Through its Race to the Top competition, the U.S. Department of Education is providing a powerful incentive for states to boost their support for charters.

Consequently, it’s imperative that more research and education be done. Charters are largely misunderstood – only 41 percent of voters even know that charter schools are in fact public schools. The incomplete research base behind charters means that many states may be heading into a reform strategy without a clear understanding of how charter schools work best, or how they interact with and affect traditional public schools. Charter schools need more research, oversight, and true evaluation to fulfill their purpose of being laboratories that traditional public schools can learn from.


Questions for researchers

What are the ingredients that contribute to charter school success? Do smaller class size, longer days, parent involvement, or freedom from collective bargaining and other regulations play a part? What about the local school district role? What variables count most?
What effects do different governance models have on positive charter school outcomes?
What interaction exists between traditional and charter public schools? Is there any evidence of shared ideas and information? Innovation? Does the charter’s authorizer affect the results?
How do charter schools affect traditional public school funding?
What are charter schools’ effects on local school districts in terms of funding, governance, logistics and accountability, as well as performance?
Questions for school boards

The emphasis on charter schools by the current administration means that this particular strategy is not going away. However, considering the lack of a research base, school boards need to be careful in implementing or considering this strategy. Some questions to consider are:

Which agencies does our state empower to authorize charter schools? How does the local school board fit into the authorizing process?
What is our opinion of, and relationship with, EMOs?
What is the state process for evaluating whether local charter schools are in fact improving achievement? What is the local role?
Is there a process for closing underperforming charter schools prior to their renewal date? How long is the timespan before renewing a school’s charter? What is the local school district role?
Does our state have caps or an appeals process for the creation or removal of charter schools?
What is the interaction between charter and traditional public schools? Does it matter if the local school board was the authorizer, or if there was another authorizer?
What lessons could we apply from local or national charter schools about school size, instruction, etc. to our traditional public schools?

Sunday, July 11, 2010

Jazz: July 11 -Why I Love and Write About Jazz Part. 3. Charmaine Clamor

Sunday July 11, 2010 10:00 a.m.

Last week, I wrote about why I started listening to jazz, collecting jazz, and documenting jazz in my poetry. I also posted jazz videos of some of the people I listen to. As a continuation of that blog, I am posting a video by Charmaine Clamor, a Filipina jazz singer who has done a tremendous job of promoting Filipino songs and jazz in the Philippines and the US. The video below is one of my favorites.

For students and teachers: On Standards of Beauty and Low self esteem of women of color-

In the bilingual video, Ms Clamor not only sings beautifully but she also makes a statement that is important to the self esteem of Filipina women and girls... a historical and cultural statement that challenges what is considered beautiful and ugly...the notion that having white skin or having white features is "better" than being born with brown skin or flat nose. She gives a brief history of the 500 year colonization of the Philippines by Spain.

My Funny Brown Pinay (sung to the tune of My Funny Valentine) Sung in English and Tagalog.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XCzIj4VhmGg

Friday, July 9, 2010

Teaching about Ella Baker for the Broadside Press Institute of Cultural Studies

As a board member and co-founder of the Broadside Press Institute of Cultural Studies, I will be teaching a workshop about Ella Baker at the University of Detroit-Mercy in July. This year's summer workshop theme is "Intellectual Leadership." We will be discussing the lives of African American leaders, film makers, the portrayal of African American families in film, and writing poetry and reflections.

Click on the blue or gray words to go to the links.

Resources for Students:

Ella Baker Bio: http://www.ellabakercenter.org/page.php?pageid=19&contentid=9


The Ella Baker Center http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8E7CWAOrl9M




Mississippi Freedom School
http://www.educationanddemocracy.org/ED_FSC.html

Freedom School Curriculum:
http://www.educationanddemocracy.org/FSCfiles/A_03_Index.htm

University of North Carolina Press: Ella Baker and the Black Freedom Movement
A Radical Democratic Vision By Barbara Ransby

http://uncpress.unc.edu/browse/book_detail?title_id=270

Click this for Books About Ella Baker (google page)

Thursday, July 8, 2010

Education: Baseball- Racism Towards Jackie Robinson, Soccer, and Other Things

Aurora Harris- 4:30 a.m. July 8, 2010

I was in a deep sleep until I heard loud cheers and found myself waking up to a documentary on baseball with the narrator talking about the deep racism African American ball player Jackie Robinson and other team members endured as members of the Negro League Baseball teams. As I listened to what happened to the ball players in 1947, I had a very clear memory of my father telling me how he went to a field on or near 6 mile and Dequinder, on the east side of Detroit, to watch Negro League ball games because Blacks were not allowed to play on minor or major league teams due to the segregation of Jim Crow. In the memory, I could see my father and I driving east on 6 mile and hearing his voice say, "See that corner? I used to come here to watch Negro League baseball, some of the greatest Black baseball players in the world. They played on this field because they couldn't play in Tiger Stadium."

As I listened to the story of how Robinson suffered from stomach pains and was pushed to the brink of a nervous breakdown by repeated racist taunts and name calling by Whites every time he stepped out on the field, but managed to keep playing better and better until he was drafted into the Major League as a member of the Brooklyn Dodgers... listened to how his team mate repeatedly drank alcohol to cope with racism until he began hearing voices and eventually had a stroke, and, listened to how a White ball player purposely gashed open Robinson's thigh with his spiked shoe, I thought about the soccer players of color during the 2006 World Cup who received racist taunts by White Europeans during soccer matches every time they stepped out on the field, and, how they became so upset, they wanted to stop playing.

The next memory that I had was about my father and how he came out our our restaurant on Fifth Street near Elizabeth and Plum, in the Plum Street district in the 1960's... how one evening, during a Saturday in the summer, he was stabbed repeatedly in his chest by a White man who tried to rob him. I remembered my mother getting the call from Receiving Hospital and going with her in a cab to find my father in the hallway wrapped in sheet, dripping with blood...how he told us later that the butcher knife broke off in his lung and that he drove to the hospital himself, slumped, and with gashes to his arms that severed tendons...

Jackie Robinson was one year older than my father...born in 1919, my father born in 1920...when Robinson was playing baseball in 1947, the man who would become my father was returning home from World War II... the soccer players in 2006 being spat at... all of it adds up to the existence of racism in various countries within a span of eighty seven years... Whether it is through sports or trying to be an independent business owner, the film and the memories are reminders of the reality of what Black Americans endured under Jim Crow and what some African men continue to endure in the 21st Century.

The following video is from an ESPN special on Soccer players of color and the level of racism they faced during the 2006 World Cup. The players are Carlos Kemeni, Marc Zoro, and Thierry Henry. I find it ironic that as I write this morning, the 2010 World Cup Soccer games have been taking place, and it was just announced that Spain beat Germany...Spain's racist fans are shown in the video.

As a result of the racism from soccer fans, Thierry Henry got with Nike to make a commercial that speaks out against racism. The commercial called "Stand Up Speak Up" has been shown in Europe. The commercial follows the sports video.

  Sports (Soccer) and Racism.  This video was posted a few years ago.  European Racism: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jwpO-nnFY9g




2. Thierry Henry's Commercial: Stand Up Speak Up: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6sbetvlu9Qg




So, here I am sitting on the edge of the bed watching images of Whites in the bleachers screaming at Jackie Robinson in a black and white film on baseball...suddenly I get an in color flash memory of the soccer players and how they looked on the field as people screamed at them, and then I have an idea to put to the two together, the baseball documentary and the soccer video, to talk about racial and ethnic identity, racism, and its effects.

I think that if teachers, parents, and students who are interested in Sports; American, African American, Ethnic, Racism, Whiteness, and Peace Studies should watch the documentary on baseball and compare what happened to Jackie Robinson and fellow African American ball players, to the European soccer team players, there is a possibility that someone will have a deeper understanding of the levels of racism that historically exists, in addition to discussing the following and other sources mentioned in this morning's blog:

1. The effects of the social construction of racial and ethnic identity.
2. Prevailing racism in an imagined post-racial or colorblind society in America and abroad.
3. Resiliency, strength, and coping skills to deal with persistent racism and racial violence.
4. The importance of documenting and listening to lived experiences from our families and communities
5. The importance of lived experiences in legal cases as discussed by Critical Race Theorists.
6. Where or how does a person find peace or peace of mind when faced with racism on a daily basis?
7. Examples of how race trumps gender and class.
8. How to improve race relations.
10. Since there was no equivalent to the US Civil Rights movement for people of color in Europe, how can we as Americans who either lived through and after that era, lend support to others that experience racism in other countries?

It is now 7:14 a.m. and a POV film about apartheid in South Africa is on ( once again this is another morning experience of watching important educational programs that are shown most people are asleep). For more info on the film "Promised Land" go to

http://www.pbs.org/pov/promisedland/background.php


Notes: (see PBS Baseball link below)

1. I was watching Baseball, Inning 6: The National Pastime (1940-1950) by Ken Burns
http://www.pbs.org/kenburns/baseball/pastime/

2. For info about the Negro Baseball League: http://www.negroleaguebaseball.com/history101.html

3. For further information to add to your discussion, see this blog's side bar for "Education: Aurora's Project: Part 4 Brazil." Click on the link to see more videos concerning the construction and effects of racial identity in Brazil, the story of Native American actors in Hollywood, and, videos on Whiteness and White privilege.

4. The website Football Unites Racism Divides explains the Stand Up Speak Up campaign and provides more information of racism in soccer (football). At he bottom of the page is a PDF document that has the story of Stand Up Speak Up from 2005-2009.
See http://www.furd.org/default.asp?intPageID=275

5. Latest news on racism in soccer as of July 1, 2010 from Foreign Policy. A 3 page article about France: http://www.foreignpolicy.com/articles/2010/07/01/le_scandal?page=0,0


End: 8:13 a.m. July 8, 2010
writing and memoir c. 2010 by Aurora Harris
All other sources and videos mentioned are under their own copyrights like YouTube, PBS, Ken Burns, POV, Thierry Henry, Nike, Football Unites, Racism divides, etc.

Also see me at Facebook.

Education: Civic Literacy- Speaking to Detroit City Council

July 7, 2010

This morning I attended a Detroit City Council Meeting with other concerned parents and citizens to ask the Council Members to not turn the Detroit Public School District over to the Mayor. I requested that they allow us our right to choose and vote for Detroit Board of Education representatives. While we face numerous issues concerning our city after being devastated by the economy, and, many of us are tired from just trying to survive from day to day, two of the things that the citizens have is a VOICE and our right to VOTE.

During today's Council session, there were several female students and the principle from the Catherine Ferguson High School for pregnant teens that received Spirit of Detroit recognition awards for their work with urban gardening and green house construction in Detroit, and, their reaching out to students in South Africa. A proud parent spoke about how her son, a graduate of Renaissance High School in Detroit, received more than one million dollars in scholarships to attend a university.

I mention these success stories because these students are the products of Detroit's Public School System. Contrary to the numerous negative media stories about the bad situation our schools are in, we do have dedicated parents, principals, students, and concerned citizens who virtually go unknown unless you get to see them for yourself at presentations during City Council meetings.

Concerning the take-over of the schools by the Mayor, why did we speak about the importance of Detroit's citizens having the right to vote for our school board? Some of the answers are:

Many Detroit citizens are not voiceless or illiterate.

Many of us are the products of the Detroit Public School System, community colleges, and local universities; have or had children in the schools, and are fighting against apartheid schooling and its effects.

Many of us own homes and pay property taxes that fund the district and

Many of us understand and know the importance of CIVIC LITERACY.

Tuesday, July 6, 2010

Education: American & Multicultural Studies (Videos From Howard Zinn Special)

Today's Session concerning American History and Culture covers historical speeches made by famous and not so famous Americans. Write a reflection concerning these speeches and share them on this blog. Thank you.

The videos are from:

Voices of a People's History of the United States (Howard Zinn and Anthony Arnove.)


1. Danny Glover Reads Frederick Douglas' "The Meaning of July Fourth for the Negro" (July 5, 1852)



2. Alice Walker Reads Soujourner Truth's "Ain't I A Woman"



3. Alfre Woodward Reads Maria Stewart's address to Black Abolitionists



4. Sandra Oh Reads Yuri Kochiyama re: Japanese internment camps



5. Mos Def Reads Malcolm X



6. Benjamin Bratt reads Orlando and Phyllis Rodriguez's letter, "Not in Our Son's Name," distributed to the media on September 15, 2001

Sunday, July 4, 2010

Jazz: July 4-Why I Love and Write About Jazz Part. 2

Charlie Parker and Dizzy Gillespie: Hot House



Miles Davis, Herbie Hancock, Wayne Shorter, Ron Carter, Tony Williams:



Pharoah Sanders: Favorite Things



Cecil Taylor: Documentary


Ravi and Alice Coltrane: A Love Supreme

Saturday, July 3, 2010

Jazz: Why I Love and Write About Jazz..all music really!

7/3/10 3:46 p.m.


Last night, I had a great playing DJ by posting jazz and videos on my fb page. A friend of mine asked me when was the last time I played violin and suddenly I recalled being a 14 year old Jr. High School student ( these days its called Middle School) playing my violin all day on Saturdays in my bedroom. The first album that popped into my mind was "Birds of Fire" by the Mahavishnu Orchestra. Jerry Goodman was the violinist for the band at the time, before Jean Luc Ponty joined.


I remembered playing "Miles Beyond" over and over and "Birds of Fire" in an attempt to become more accurate at playing fast runs. Prior to playing jazz-rock, which was called "Fusion" at the time, I played classical violin. I was in elementary school and began taking lessons when I was in the 2nd grade at the school. On Saturdays, I took lessons at noon at the Grinnell's Music Store on Woodward in downtown Detroit. Prior to that time in my life, I remembered being a little girl before I entered elementary school. My grandfather would play Bossa Nova, Stan Getz and Milton Nasciemento when it was time for me to take naps.


By the time I was in the 4th grade, I was playing in Detroit's All City Orchestra, that met for practice in the large auditorium of Cass Technical High School. The orchestra would have been like the Detroit Symphony Orchestra's Sphinx Orchestra for youth.


So some of my Saturdays were spent meeting at Cass Tech in the mornings, then I would walk to Woodward and take my noon lesson at Grinnell's. I recall my best friend and I being the only two girls from our elementary school to play in the orchestra with high school students. I played second chair position.


What does classical music have to do with jazz? Well, one day at Cass Tech, we were told that the funding was gone and the orchestra could no longer be supported (  I think this was in 1966) and that the orchestra would be discontinued. I remember being in the hall with the other students, all of us with the look of shock and confusion on our faces, and crying. I remember that when we arrived, the auditorium door was locked, so we were waiting in the hall for the conductor.  Our instrument cases were in the hallway and when someone arrived, we were asked to gather 'round.  I remember that when we received the news, how some of us who were standing against the lockers, slid down to the floor and cried.


After the orchestra was shut down, I continued to take private lessons at Grinnell's until it closed down. By that time, I was in Jr. High School and we had "Band" instead of "Orchestra." Eventually, I dropped out of the class. All I had to practice from was Beethoven, Mozart, and a Vivaldi concerto for two violins. Now this is where the jazz comes in.


One day, I was listening to WJZZ and the DJ played a Miles Davis tune. I can't recall what it was but I  remembered thinking that I could play the song. I used to listen to rock a lot when I was a teen and was trying to figure out what else I could play on the violin. Later, in 1972,  I heard the Mahavishnu Orchestra play "Birds of Fire" and fell in love with the song. I liked fusion because it combined rock and jazz. I could hear the violin in it and was sure that if I bought the album, I could pick out the notes and play by ear. So I grabbed some of my pay from my newspaper route, hopped the Hamilton bus to Northland, and bought it from the record store. And this is how I began collecting fusion LP's that had violinists. Later, I practiced to Stephan Grapelli, then Jean Luc Ponty when he replaced Jerry Goodman. I also had Gentle Giant collection to practice to. My favorite to play was "Black Cat" from the Acquiring the Taste LP.


Years later, in the late '70's, early 80's, when I was a university student, I took some jazz theory and music appreciation courses to help me understand how jazz was composed. It was at that time that I began collecting jazz, going to jazz concerts to write papers for my theory classes, and really got into BeBop and folks like Cecil Taylor, Ornette Coleman, Eric Dolphy, Coltrane, Miles, Ayler, and others. Later, I took these experiences and began documenting jazz musicians by writing jazz related poetry.


Here's the Gentle Giant cut "Black Cat"




Here's an early video of the first Mahavishnu Orchestra with Jerry Goodman on violin, Billy Cobham on drums, John McLaughlin on guitar, Jan Hammer on keys and synth, and Rick Laird on bass. (My hair was like Jerry's!)

I Read A Declaration Against Racism in Detroit on June 24-US SF Press Conference

9:25 a.m. July 3, 2010

On June 24, 2010, I was honored to be invited by my friend Freda, to attend a press conference in the Media Center at the US Social Forum and read the Michigan Roundtable for Diversity & Inclusion Declaration of Intent: Race, Residence & Regional Cooperation.  A copy of the document is posted below. Prior to the reading of the Declaration, a statement was made that made it clear that in Detroit and Metro Detroit, a colorblind or post-racial society does not exist, due to the history of racism and its continued effects. A large copy of the Declaration was provided for the attendees to sign. I felt proud to sign it.

The press conference had a beautiful, historical exhibit of Detroit neighborhoods that were targets of racism. The exhibit included Black Bottom, "The 8 mile Wall" that separated blacks from whites on the NW side of Detroit, like the Berlin Wall, and a photo of the National Guard during the 1967 rebellion/riot. 

After seeing the photo of the National Guard, I was flooded with memories that placed me right back in Quezon City, P.I., where I watched the rebellion via satellite before we received a telegram from my father telling us to leave the country and come home ASAP. The photo of the crouched National Guard soldiers reminded me of the soldiers I saw in the Philippines that were on the streets as we drove to the airport in Manila, and, the soldiers I saw driving on Hamilton Ave. with Army Jeeps that had what looked like rocket launchers, and, the tanks and jeeps that were parked on the field of Central High School on the Linwood Ave. side.

On June 25th, 2010, at Wayne State University, I attended a workshop where people gathered to listen to panelists talk about the way cities and townships in Metro Detroit practice and promote racism and exclusion. One of the panelists spoke about living in Sterling Heights, MI, where she found that folks did not celebrate Dr. Martin Luther King's birthday. The speaker stated that she was able to bring the issue to their City Council. "I had to tell them it was a Federal Holiday." 

All of what I have written so far, brings me back to my Masters' paper that documented the activist efforts of the 1970's  that were made to eradicate institutionalized and systemic racism in the City of Detroit. At this point, there is something stirring in my soul...an uneasiness...the memory of comments written across the pages of the paper that questioned the validity of racist statements that I have been hearing from some white folks from the streets of Detroit, to classrooms in universities, to community meetings, for the past 45 years.  I feel as if my reality is not valid unless it is "proven" ...so in case anyone ever  asks me, "Who? Where did this take place?" I can just refer them to this blog and the document below.
Michigan Roundtable for Diversity & Inclusion
Declaration of Intent
Race, Residence & Regional Cooperation
Truth & Reconciliation Commission
June, 2010

Preamble

This nation was established on the promise of equality and opportunity.  Delivering on this promise for all people is an ongoing struggle.  We all share a linked fate.  As we fulfill this promise, we all benefit.  When any individual or group is denied equality and opportunity, we all suffer.  Having the courage to examine and understand our history can help build a more just society.  Truth provides the foundation for reconciliation.  Reconciliation provides the foundation for hope and the promise of a supportive and inclusive future.     

The contemporary challenge: Detroit is the most segregated region in the country.

Detroit is the most segregated of the nation's 100 largest metropolitan areas.  The 2000 US census provides a mirror of our social reality.  Two of every three communities in Metro Detroit are more than 90 percent white; one of three is more than 95 percent white.  On the other extreme, Inkster is 67 percent black; Detroit, 81 percent; and Highland Park, 93 percent.  This is not simply a problem of the past.  In the 1990s, more than half (53 percent) of all white Detroiters left the city.  Only one in 10 Detroit residents is a non‑Hispanic white.  Sterling Heights (111,743) and Warren (124,936) both have more white residents than Detroit (99,921

Racism casts a long shadow over the experiences of all of Southeast Michigan.

Today’s regional segregation by city and township is no accident.  Residential and social segregation are the direct consequence of countless individual choices made in the context of identifiable institutional structures, unavoidably tinged by the effects of race, racial tension and racism.  Many practices consciously and unconsciously have oppressed a large segment of the population.   We continue to live with these legacies; the legacies produced, for example,  by the crowds that gathered outside the home of Dr. Ossian Sweet, the hands that constructed the Wailing Wall near 8 Mile and Wyoming, and the racial conflicts and unrest that boiled to the surface in 1943 and 1967.   These practices resulted in crimes against the body, crimes against property, the collusion of public and private institutions in preventing access and opportunity to all people, and numerous conspiracies of silence.

We still feel the effects of these troubled times.


If problems are not addressed, they fester.  Social structures and racial hierarchies reproduce themselves over time.  Historically, blacks were limited to a few Detroit neighborhoods, such as Black Bottom and Paradise Valley.  White neighborhood associations fought aggressively to prevent black families from moving into their communities.  These private acts of discrimination were reinforced by government policies such as redlining and discriminatory lending policies of the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), as well as the refusal to locate public housing near areas of opportunity.  Sadly, when racial segregation inside the city could no longer be maintained, similar social forces reproduced identical patterns of segregation at a regional level.  Suburban governments have taken the place of the neighborhood associations.  Exclusionary zoning and failures to provide affordable housing have taken the place of historic fights to prevent the siting of public housing in traditionally white neighborhoods.  The results, however, are the same.  Metro Detroit remains the most segregated region in the country. 

Racial Segregation is also the segregation of opportunity and hope for the future.

Decades of social science research illustrate how racial segregation embodies a deeper institutional segregation of opportunity.  Without doubt, racial disparities have had a disproportionate effect on the regions African- American population, but they have also limited the quality of life for all our citizens.  We share a linked fate.  The geographic fracturing of Metro Detroit is also a fracturing of hope for the future.  Many young people with the opportunity to do so choose to leave the region and move to other more diverse metro areas.  Despair and a lack of hope in the future fill the lives of many who stay.  The failure to build a just and inclusive community greatly diminishes our collective potential, as well as our regional promise.  A brighter tomorrow can only be built upon a willingness to confront these difficulties with a shared commitment to both truth and reconciliation.

An inclusive and prosperous future can only be ensured by an inquiry into and understanding of the structural dynamics of racial segregation, past and present.

Too often, stories are told focusing on individuals and not institutions.  While it is true that individual Detroiters formed neighborhood associations that organized to prevent blacks from purchasing homes, it is also true that public officials and community leaders helped shape and perpetuate these same patterns of oppression and exclusion.  All important institutions in the community should pause and reflect on the role that they knowingly and unknowingly played in this process.  The failure to understand the deeper structural dynamics of racism has cultivated the mistaken belief that these problems are only problems of the past.  They are not.  These institutional histories carry forward and define the patterns of behavior that exist today and will be projected into the future if not addressed now. 

The establishment of a Truth and Reconciliation Commission, inspired by the process that took place in South Africa, will allow us to develop an appropriate understanding of past injustices and to envision constructive remedies to create a new regional culture of fairness, equal opportunity and improved prosperity.

Working to understand the dynamics of individual and structural racism can permit us to better understand our past, while creating opportunities to build a more just tomorrow.  All important institutional stakeholders must be part of this self-reflective process.  Understanding the institutional role of race in our past and now can permit us to collectively re-imagine our future.  A Truth and Reconciliation Commission that shepherds this process will allow the region to constructively engage the problems, division, and bitterness related to past and present patterns of segregation.  Truth provides the foundation for reconciliation.  Reconciliation provides the foundation for hope and the promise of a better future, enabling Metro Detroit to realize a  fuller potential, the construction of a viable, inclusive region to educate, to work and to live in for this and future generations.

We, the undersigned, commit ourselves to work diligently and honestly with the people and institutions of Metro Detroit to carry out this project with integrity, promoting truth, understanding, and the hope for a future providing opportunity for all.


Logo_Highresolution

Thursday, June 24, 2010

Education: Contemporary Filipino Scholarship: Status, Problems, and Prospects

The following is a documentation of panel abstracts presented at the International Convention of Asian Scholars. It is provided to give the reader an idea of  Filipino scholarship. Click on the link below.

#163. Contemporary Filipino Scholarship: Status, Problems and Prospects

ICAS and the Association of Asian Studies has a Call for Papers. The 2011 convention will be held in Honolulu, Hawaii.

Call for papers and 2011 Convention

Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Broadside Press Updates and Info About My EMU Alumni Interview

Dear Friends,

Here is the latest Broadside Press News. Please feel free to circulate it to your email lists.

Broadside Press Contact Information: P.O. Box 2011 Detroit, MI 48202
Phone: 313 586-4577 

* We are not accepting new poetry manuscripts for publication at this time, however we are putting out a second call for our Hip Hop Anthology. The deadline is open at this time. We are looking for poetry, short essays and literature reviews that expresses the Hip Hop Movement and its daily, local, national, and global effects, and, concerns. We are also accepting submissions from other countries for this anthology.

CALL FOR SUBMISSION: HIP HOP ANTHOLOGY

Noted for its history of publishing the foremost African American poets of the last 40 years, Broadside Press is calling for submissions to an upcoming anthology, Broadside Speaks Hip Hop. This collection will feature the work of young and adult writers who have matured in the cultural climate of the hip hop movement of the last few decades. The anthology editors are interested in the following kinds of work:

· Poetry which reflects the styles, political concerns, and critical commentary characteristic of the hip hop genre.

· Poetry which reflects new modes of expression, or a new aesthetic.

· Poetry written for spoken word performance.

· Poetry which exemplifies serious intellectual engagement and technical mastery.

· Poetry which deals with the pressing socio-political concerns and issues of the African Diaspora.

· Poetry which expresses African and African American spirituality.

· Poetry which refers to African diasporan history.

Broadside looks forward to the publication of this anthology and the presentation of new writers in keeping with our legacy of making the finest literary productions of our community available to the world.

Please use 11 or 12 font size. You may submit 3 or 4 poems, one poem per page. The maximum pages of poetry is 4 pages, which allows for one poem that is 2 pages long and 2 short poems. For short essays and lit reviews 1800 word maximum. Make sure you include your name and contact info, including email, with the titles of your submission on a separate sheet. Include your name at the top of each poem, essay and lit review.

Send submission to: Broadside Press P.O. Box 02307 Detroit, MI

OTHER NEWS:

1. The Broadside Press functions in conjunction with the Dudley Randall Center for Print and Media at the University of Detroit-Mercy campus located on Livernois and McNichols in Detroit, MI. You may go to the University's website and look for posts about the Poets Theater there, or look for dates posted on Aurora Harris' facebook events page.

2. The Broadside Press Poet's Theater runs every third Sunday of the month from 3-6pm at U of D-Mercy and follows the university's semester schedule. We have featured readers and open mic.
June 20th is the last open mic until further notice. July is the month that we run our Institute of Cultural Studies.

3. The Broadside Press Institute of Cultural Studies takes place every summer for discussion and poetry workshops at the University of Detroit-Mercy campus. We will meet on Saturdays. July 12,17,24,31 from 12pm to 3 pm. contact Aurora at aurora917@gmail.com

4. The Aquarius Press & Broadside Press Writers and Poets Conference takes place in Idlewild, MI, the historic summer resort of many African American families, poets, writers and musicians. The dates are August 12-14 2010. The deadline for registration is July 31, 2010.

Click on this for more info 

if page doesn't work go to:
http://motownwriters.blogspot.com/2010/06/idlewild-writers-conference.html

www.idlewildconference.homestead.com

5. NEW POETRY CD INFO: Fellow board member Al Ward has a new spoken word and jazz cd called About Love Sometimes...The Poetry of Soul by Albert M. Ward. Also reading on this cd is board member Dr. Gloria House (Aneb Kgositsile).

http://spokenu.wordpress.com/http://spokenu.wordpress.com/

You can listen to poetry and jazz samples of Al's cd by clicking on this

6. Board member Aurora Harris wrote a poem called "Yurugu" for the jazz composition called "Yurugu" by Detroit's In The Tradition Jazz Band. The music and poem were inspired by scholar Marimba Ani's book "Yurugu." The cd has been receiving world air play on radio stations in the US and other countries. To order the cd go to

www.inthetraditionjazz.com

Aurora's John Coltrane poems on Radio Free Amsterdam are found on her blog at
http://auroraharris.blogspot.com/

Click the following to see my interview:

Aurora's interview about her being a scholar-poet-activist

http://emugoldalumni.wordpress.com/2010/06/10/140/


Thank you!

“Black Female Intellectuals in the Academy” by Staci Maree Perryman-Clark

CF 20: “Black Female Intellectuals in the Academy” by Staci Maree Perryman-Clark

An article on Black Female Intellectuals in the academy.

Saturday, June 12, 2010

Education: Women's Empowerment From A Global Perspective

It is 7:20 p.m. and I am posting links about women's empowerment. Tomorrow, I will be at the 2nd Annual Global Women's  Conference at the Detroit's Wayne County Community College, Northwest Campus. As a panelist with educator Lolita Hernandez and Dr. Sharon Oliver, I will be discussing women's empowerment.

Since I am interested in various subjects such poetry, history, culture, and identity, and work in the fields of education, media (publication, recording, music, radio, film, and television), and community work, I thought it would be a good idea to post additional links for educators, students, or anyone who is interested in what is taking place at an international level regarding women's empowerment. 

1.   ITVS.org has a page called "Women's Empowerment" that has videos and lesson plans that are downloadable. If you click on the main title, you will see the lesson plans. Then click the title of the video to see the video or learn more about the film.

To see the videos, click this link. 

Some of the videos can be shared but others must be ordered. One of the shared videos is

Taking Root: The Vision of Wangari Maathai - ITVS

The video "Taking Root..." is about Kenya's Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Wangari Maathai who started an environmental movement by planting trees.

The "Beyond the Box" page is a blog that has interesting and informative postings.

2.  WeDpro     is a Filipina feminist site. From their page: "The founders of WeDpro, Inc (founded October 1989) were members of the feminist collective Katipunan ng Kababaihan para sa Kalayaan, popularly known as KALAYAAN (founded 1983). WEDPRO members have a long history of being activists and feminists, whose individual and collective experience has made a mark especially in the early years of the women’s liberation movement. KALAYAAN was one of the very first women’s organizations that took pride in its feminist identity"

3.  Pathways of Women's Empowerment is a research site.

Friday, June 11, 2010

Media: Philippine News (In Tagalog)

Here's a link to

Dateline Philippines News  

News in Tagalog and English

Education: Autism, Literacy, and Reading.

A Morning with An Autistic Young Adult: Reading
by Aurora Harris c. 2009

June 11, 2009 9:30 a.m.

I have been awake since 6:00 a.m. While waiting for the bus to pick up my grandnephew, I asked him to read the morning newspaper out loud. As I listened to him read word by word, without fluency, it dawned on me that perhaps part of his lack of fluency was due to being taught how to sight read. As I continued listening to him, I remembered sitting in one of his elementary school classes, with the teacher standing in front of a list of words, pointing at each word, saying the word, and having the students repeat what they heard. After this recollection, the next thoughts I had related to Detroit's high illiteracy rate.

I thought about the newspaper reports in the past few months regarding the poor state of education in Detroit, the students' low test scores, and that up to half of the city's population is functionally illiterate. I looked at my grandnephew, who is a "high functioning autistic," in his twenties, and in a "transitional school setting."

After he read, I asked him if he knew what certain words meant. He lowered his head and said, "I don't  know."

"How in the heIl can he get through life just repeating words without knowing what they mean?" is what I thought.  Then suddenly, I said to him, "No. You will not go to summer school. I will teach you myself."  He looked at me and said, "O.K."

Suddenly, all of the years that I've had him, since he was three years old, flooded my mind. From age three to now, I have been his guardian and advocate. I remembered seeing his early years of odd behaviors like rocking, hitting himself, tantrums, unstoppable crying fits, and, collecting toys and stacking them. I remembered my mother, who was his great grandmother, carrying him on her hip from room to room, as a way to quiet him down. I remember telling my mother and father, "I'm going to find out how we can help him." After I wrote down the behaviors I saw, I drove to Wayne State University and sat down at one of the computers that were set up for community access. As I typed the behaviors into the search engine, each behavior took me to a page concerning Autism or Aspergers. I remember feeling relieved that I had something, some research that I could take to my parents and doctors.

1993. In 1993, I began my long and stress filled journey of caring for an autistic child. By the time he was enrolled in school, I had amassed a ton of research from every available web site concerning Autism and Asperger autism. I was determined to teach him any way I could. I wasn't a teacher or even interested in teaching at the time. I was an unemployed, overworked telecommunications worker with carpal tunnel syndrome in both hands, with pain up to my neck on both sides. At that time, with hands in splints, I tapped on the keys of a typewriter or computer keyboard with two pencils turned upside down, so the erasers wouldn't damage the keys. It seemed that the moment I decided to be a poet, I was faced with another challenge. However, in spite of my own inability to hold a pen and physically write due to the splints and pain,  I never thought, at any time, that I couldn't help my grandnephew or that he was not teachable.

After he was enrolled in middle school, I remembered the long battle to get him diagnosed as autistic because he had been misdiagnosed as "Learning disabled." The battle was long and hard...I don't have enough time to go into what it took to coordinate three or four schools' IEP's (Individual Education Plans) that were found collecting dust on a desk in an area office, and bring the administrators, social workers, and school psychologists together to get them to agree with what I had been saying all along: "The child is autistic."

As an educator looking back, I can state that there are studies out there, concerning the misdiagnosis of minority students and the late diagnosis and effects on minority children, but my case was different. I came into the school system with all of the research and symptoms from my investigation. After years of being told, "We can't determine what he has, he has too many behaviors," all I could say was, " He copies people. He studies people. He repeats what you say word for word as an answer to a question. He sounds like a robot. He collects things. He can shake a bottle of water and watch it for hours. He has echolalia," until he became "older" and they could "re-test him."

"How did I learn to read?"  I asked myself.  I remembered that I learned how to read at home, before I was enrolled in elementary school... that I enjoyed pronouncing words, saying them, listening to family members read out loud...sitting at the window seat or at the dining room table in our dining room with either my father, grandfather, or mother holding my hand and teaching me how to write...the pads of wide, green, lined paper my parents brought home for me to write on...the alphabet books in Spanish and English, Dr. Seuss books, the science encyclopedias, the Filipino magazines that were in Tagalog and English that relatives sent us, the hundreds of other books and magazines I was given to read silently and out loud...the heavy, giant dictionary that had a world of knowledge from writing business letters to learning about science, in the back of it. I remember saying and writing, "ventana, manzanas, caballo, bintana, mansanas, kabayo, window, apples, horse." I remembered why it was easy for me to learn Spanish, Tagalog and English. My grandfather lived with us spoke and Castilian Spanish, Tagalog,  and Ilocano with my mother and other relatives. He had been a Spanish Teacher who taught at Fort Wayne.  My father spoke English, a little Tagalog, Italian and Polish. My grandmother on my father's side was an English teacher. I lived in a multillingual home where speaking different languages, reading, and learning were normal, and, expected. Today, there is only me to help my grandnephew until I find assistance.


The Detroit Public Schools and The Mayor are pushing for students to read. The commercials of little children are great, but do they have reading services for my autistic grandnephew who is in transition? Who nows how to see and say but don't know what the words mean?

Mind you, I do not have a teaching certificate. I do not know all of the theory or technical vocabulary that goes into the science of reading. However, I do have a Masters degree in Social Foundations of Education, I know how to write, and I know how to read.

So, today, I will start like I did before. Grassroots style. I will go on the Internet and list reading resources for parents and caretakers like myself, who are unemployed, lack the funds to pay for reading tutors, or, any tutoring service, and, do not possess a K-12 teaching certificate. Hopefully, folks will pass this blog entry around or copy it for those who don't have access to computers, so other resources can be exchanged.

Later, when my grandnephew gets home from school, I will teach him, the way I was taught: 1. Look at the word. 2. Say/ sound the word out.  3. Write and read the words, find and write the definitions, and, memorize them. 4. Write the word in a sentence.

Resources for parents and teachers ( I will post more later):

Teaching Students with Autistic Spectrum Disorders to Read (in Google books)

Reading Rockets: Curriculum and Instruction

Reading Rockets: Fluency

Thursday, June 10, 2010

Education News: Universities, Schools, Public Education

Here's the latest news on higher education and public K-12 education. Click on the sentences to go to the link.

The first article "Higher Education Without Democracy?" 
 is written by Henry Giroux and Chronis Polychroniou. Source: Tikkun Magazine

The second article "Report: Tough Times Ahead for Children of the Great Recession" 

is written by Sarah Garland. Source: Education Week

Environment: Revisiting Destruction of South Central Farm; BP Oil Spill; The Plastic Garbage Island in the Pacific

Every spring and summer for the past five years, I look at the flowers that my mother and father planted. l think about how we farmed and sold our vegetables for many years at the Eastern Farmers Market. I think about the backyard gardens I planted so we could have fresh food. This morning I wondered about what happened to the urban farmers from the South Los Angeles farm that was bulldozed.

A few years ago, the South Central Farm in Los Angeles, California was bulldozed after a dispute between the farmers and the landowners. The farm was the largest urban garden project in the US. Right before the farm was bulldozed, I went through a similar experience in Detroit, with the project I worked on and invested a great deal of the grant I received. With my project, instead of food, flower gardens that children planted were bulldozed.

In one of the films that I watched earlier this morning, one of the women who planted at the farm stated that the young children that planted and grew up with that farm were psychologically damaged when the authorities bulldozed it. I believe her. There is nothing like remembering all of the hot summer days that were spent planting, the care children took to select the flora they would plant and arrange in pots...and then one day find everything in one bulldozed heap of brick, crushed plants and organic soil. This is one reason why "lived experiences" are important.

Here are three videos about why the garden was started, what happened to the land, the farmers, the families, and the organizing efforts.

1. The Destruction of South Central Farmers:




2. The Garden (Movie Trailer, from YouTube)




 3. A YouTube Project Report by Tracy Chung: South Central Farm Revisited

 

For over a month, I have been asking my friends, "Why don't they call Jacques Cousteau's family?" "They did all those documentaries on the sea, they can get the diving equipment..." Well, I was informed last week the the grandson of Jacques Cousteau has been in the gulf. Here's a clip from May 27, 2010; ABC's Good Morning America report:



Here is a report on the giant garbage island that floats in the Pacific Ocean. It is twice the size of Texas:

Tuesday, June 8, 2010

Idlewild, MI: Aquarius Press and Broadside Press Writers and Poets Conference

DEAR FRIENDS,

AQUARIUS PRESS AND BROADSIDE PRESS ARE HAVING A WRITERS AND POETS CONFERENCE IN IDLEWILD, MI THE 2ND WEEKEND OF AUGUST. AUGUST 12-14, 2010.  PLEASE SEE THE HOMESTEAD LINK AND PDF BROCHURE INFORMATION BELOW FOR DETAILS.

peace
aurora harris


You don't want to miss this conference

www.idlewildconference.homestead.com

Saturday, June 5, 2010

Aurora's: Identity/Racism/Whiteness- Part 4. Identity and Race in Brazil / US Native Americans in Hollywood/ Whiteness and Privilege/ Racism in Europe (Sports)

Today's videos expresses how racial identity is dealt with in Brazil, the experiences of Brazilian Amerindians, the experiences of US Native Americans in Hollywood (a Tyra Banks episode), and, Whiteness and White Privilege in the US.

Educators and students: What are the implications of a government assigning an identity to a group of people? How is the assignment of racial identity similar or different to lighter skinned black South Africans that were assigned the identity "Colored?" Also, how is the multiracial argument in Brazil similar or different to the one that is currently taking place in the United States? What are the speakers conveying to the audience about black people who are descendants of slaves? How is Brazil's education system similar to the education system in the US under Jim Crow laws?

1. Brazilian black and mixed-race people who are discriminated against and the first, private owned university in Brazil for people of African descent,



2. An excerpt from a PBS Wide Angle documentary regarding Brazil's racial quotas, students picking a race to get accepted at a university, and discussions concerning race in Brazil:



3 a.  This is a Brazilian hearing concerning the identity of "Black" being imposed by the government upon the Amazon Amerindian peoples, who do not want to be identified as Black. The representative argues that they are a mix of Indigenous people, Europeans and Whites. She mentions that they are not mixed with Africans and that Black Brazilians were brought to Brazil as slaves (similar to the history of Africans that were brought to the United States).

Ethnic cleansing against Caboclos in Brazil:

 

3 b. Ethnic cleansing in against Caboclos in Brazil. The hearing continues and another representative argues that "Brown" is not "Black." He argues that the assignment of Black to his people is the "deconstruction of identity" and "statistical ethnocide" that erases them,, and caused a war.



4. From Tyra Banks' show: Racism in Hollywood. Interviews with Native American actors and models.




5a. Film from World Trust: Social Impact through Film and Dialogue
on YouTube. Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible pt.1 Whites discuss white privilege, racism, and experiences with Blacks, Asians, Latinos, Native Americans, and other Whites:



5b. Film from World Trust: Social Impact through Film and Dialogue
on YouTube. Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible pt.2



5c. Film from World Trust: Social Impact through Film and Dialogue
on YouTube. Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible pt.3



5d. Film from World Trust: Social Impact through Film and Dialogue
on YouTube. Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible pt.4



5e. Film from World Trust: Social Impact through Film and Dialogue
on YouTube. Mirrors of Privilege: Making Whiteness Visible pt.5



6. Peggy McIntosh speaks. White Privilege: Unpacking The Invisible Knapsack appears as a list of 50 things that explain what white privilege is and how it operates in society.



7a. Part 1. Joe Riley interviews Chip Smith, activist-author and researcher Juliet Ucelli of The Cost of White Supremacy and Racism. Smith discusses white privilige, the colorblind society, how many US citizens don't know the history of racism and think that the Civil Rights movement destroyed racism and related issues, when it did not. He mentions the Philippines and Jim Crow in the 1900's. Ucelli shares important statistics and facts.



7b. Part 2. Joe Riley interviews Chip Smith, activist-author and researcher Juliet Ucelli of The Cost of White Supremacy and Racism. Smith discusses the period of Reconstruction.





8.  Sports (Soccer) and Racism.  This video was posted a few years ago.  European Racism: